SBI Plans 12,000 Hires, 250 New Branches

, India’s largest lender, plans to recruit around 11,000–12,000 employees and add approximately 200–250 new branches on a net basis during FY27, according to Chairman C.S. Setty. The hiring will primarily cover clerical and officer-level positions, with the final number likely to depend on employee retirements and evolving business requirements. The planned recruitment comes after SBI undertook a significantly larger hiring drive in FY26. The bank recruited 25,633 personnel last financial year, including 4,640 officers, 19,340 associates and 1,653 contractual employees. SBI had also hired around 1,500 specialist IT officers in FY26, but Setty indicated that a similar scale of technology-focused recruitment is not expected this year. As of March 2026, SBI had a workforce of more than 2.45 lakh employees. On the branch expansion front, SBI sees scope to strengthen its physical presence despite already operating one of India’s largest banking networks. The bank has identified underserved areas, including newly developed residential colonies and commercially active districts, where additional branches could improve customer access and business penetration. SBI is simultaneously rationalising its network, meaning the overall branch count is expected to rise by roughly 200–250 annually on a net basis. Overall, the FY27 plan signals SBI’s continued focus on expanding customer reach, strengthening frontline manpower and capturing growth opportunities across emerging markets. The combination of targeted recruitment and branch additions could support deposit mobilisation, credit growth and deeper penetration in under-served locations while keeping hiring more calibrated than the previous year.